Elk Grove City Council to receive $5 million grant to deal with homeless issue

Tonight the Elk Grove City Council will decide the best way to utilize $5 million from a state grant to address the homeless issues in the city of Elk Grove. The full staff report can be found online. The staff plan calls for the possible purchase of up to 4 homes to help homeless persons. Two of the homes would be used initially to get the homeless off the streets. One home would be for single persons and the other for families. The homes would be called navigation hubs and there would be assistance in finding services that are needed and securing future house through grants and section 8 housing.

From the report,

Staff recommends funding the acquisition and rehabilitation of two single-family properties to serve as navigation hubs, each of which will have private bedrooms and shared kitchen and restroom facilities. Similar to transitional housing, each house would have a live-in house manager to assure that rules are followed and there are no neighborhood problems.

Two other homes would be used as exit assistance and there would be rent paid by the tenants of $400-500 a month. From the report:

In order to assist persons residing at the navigation hubs to achieve permanent housing, staff recommends implementation of two strategies:

• Acquisition and rehabilitation of two, single-family homes for use as permanent shared housing, with rooms renting for $400-500 (in today’s dollars).

• A general exit assistance program in the form of a limited-term subsidy, landlord incentive, etc., to be implemented on an individualized basis.

Staff recommends that the City establish a navigation team to provide proactive outreach to homeless persons, assisting them with gaining entry to the City’s navigation hubs and other social services for which they may be eligible. The navigation team may be comprised of:

• One or more full-time navigators

• A full-time POP officer (existing officer is allocated part-time)

• A full- or part-time mental health clinician.

How the $5 million would be spent

Some other highlights from the report:

• The 2017 Point-in-Time count conducted by Sacramento Steps Forward estimated about 40 unsheltered homeless in Elk Grove. The count, which takes place on one night in January, likely misses many of the people sleeping in cars, and the deconcentrated nature of homelessness in Elk Grove complicates the count.

• The Police Department, which has a problem-oriented policing (POP) officer devoted part-time to homeless issues, indicated that they have had interactions with about 65 homeless people in the last two months. Most were sleeping in tents or other temporary structures on public or private property, and have untreated mental health and/or substance abuse issues.

• The City’s contracted homeless services navigator reported working with 36 households in the past two months, the majority of which were unknown to the Police Department. More than half were sleeping in vehicles, and around two-thirds had at least one source of income.

The City Council meeting is tonight at 6 pm in the council chambers at City Hall.